Existing lighting devices, such as flashlights, typically involve a number of component parts. As the number of component parts increases, manufacturing costs may also increase and durability may decrease. That is, as the number of components increase, the cost to assemble them generally increases as does the chance that one or more component parts may later fail.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial for a flashlight design to have a reduced number of component parts. It would also be beneficial to simplify the manner in which the components interact. It would also be beneficial to generally simplify the design which may make the flashlight easier to manufacture and at lower cost, and may also make it easier for the user to operate the flashlight and increase its durability.
Various existing lighting devices, such as flashlights, provide a focusing feature where the beam of light may be varied between spot and flood and vice versa. This may occur through the collimation of light by relative motion of the light source and reflector. Certain existing focusing features move the light source relative to the reflector. However, this may require a number of component parts that may increase component and manufacturing costs. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an alternative focusing feature that may involve fewer component parts.
Many, if not most, current lighting devices use a reflector to direct the beam of light. However, the configuration of the reflector and the manufacturing process used to produce it may sometimes result in distortion to the reflector surface. Accordingly, it would be advantageous for the reflector to have a design that avoids distortion when it is manufactured.
Various existing lighting devices now include electronics that may provide different functions. Oftentimes, these electronics may be located in a certain location within the lighting device. However, the location of these electronics may affect what functions may be offered and/or how the electronics may operate. And in smaller lighting devices such as flashlights, there is generally a limited volume of space where electronics may be located. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to locate electronics and package them so as to increase their utility and lower cost.
Over recent years, flashlights and other lighting devices have been able to operate in different modes of operation. For example, certain current flashlights now provide different modes such as a standard brightness beam, a brighter or dimmer beam, a blinking beam and/or other modes. However, the manner in which different modes may be selected by the user may be cumbersome. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an improved and efficient manner in which the user may select different modes.
It is generally desired for lighting devices to provide brighter beams of light and/or a larger spot. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to use larger and/or more powerful light sources.
The current invention addresses the foregoing issues as well as other issues as described herein.